1941-09-15 — Page 25

THE CHINA MAIL, SEPTEMBER 15, 1941.

NO ONE-WAY

SHOW

WHEN

CONVOY BOMBED

John M. Leggat, a 22-year-old British subject who spent most of his life in the U.S.A. dropped in at PM, in New York one day to see how a newspaper is put together. Leon Goodelman, one of our reporters, learned that he planned to join up with the Empire's fighting forces. Young Leggat promised to write. This is the second instalment of his first, letter, describing his trip across the Atlantic as a sailor aboard a convoy ship,

wounded bird limped off into the horizon, In a few minutes ship le resumed, "the convoy con- tinued on as if nothing had hap- pened, and I got a bit of a kid- ding from the bomb-hardened sailors for shaking like a leaf.

Not A Scratch

We had a few more raide, but we beat them off before they -could- get' close' "enough 'to do their damage. In fact I'm happy to say that the first con- voy after the Lend-Lease Bili reached port without a scratch. Not without plenty of effort though

I GOT TOʻKNOW everyone on the boat pretty well. Amongst the Dutch I found that near- ly every one of them had heard nothing from home, and did not know if their families were alive or dead. They never mentioned home, only the ship. If one did not question these men he would have no idea they were`men without a country or a home.

land could be seen. one exception. One The force even then was enough

1

There was man showed me a letter he re- to make the whole ship jump and ceived it was from the Inter-shudder. Imagino what force Switzer- those same explosions must have national Red Cross in Jand The letter. if it can he undersen! called a letter, was printed in black capital fetter..

A few days later a dark mound appeared on the horizon and soon And what a glorious sight she England!

was after the long trek at sea, As soon as I could after making port, I let ship and got a good bath, shave and haircut--swear- ing to wait till a bridge

again. But not the sallors --- they headed for the first pub spent all their money and in a few days were back after more

was

the family "All Hell Broke Loose" built before I made that crossing

was allowed to print 25 words 4 a-ship not unlike a telegraph blank. The pathetic message just said, "we are all welt" But he had received it in April, 1940. No word since.

WAR

The high spot of the trip my first time under fire. It will always remain vividly in my mind. The war in cargo Europe seems close to America, but it is hard to visualies.

only had to be under fire once and it all seemed very clear to

me.

Easter

It was a wonderful experience This is one ship, a Dutch ship

secing a convoy In action, and There are other great merchant

now that I have mavines that tell the same story.

seen it I can

The ship they are on might be

tell that anything Hiller can put against the men of the merchant sunk but they will go on and on

marine and the Royal Navy, they till their country is their own again.

It happened In the meantime, the ship

morning will take it and give him back Ships will keep sailing. In our fo'c'sle somewhere near Europe. Easter, more than he can put out. language "It is very

no gout 1941, at sea, dodging eggs instead are being lost it is true. But the

for them of looking to stop!"

Give these as I did men are We were Concerning

having the ships to run and the cargoes one chap whose when a boy.

and they will do the country is under the Nazi yoke coffee in the fo'c'sle, sitting re- to carry there is a rather ironical story. laxed and talking. All of a sud-rest in a very complete way. I asked him what he thought den the air-raid Siren went, then about the RAF. bombing his another, and then it seemed as

He said that he was

if every devil in home town. all for it, that it was medicinewailing out

our

creation was in the most

not.

men

way. We all run and put de TIMUR THE

life belts and tin hats. I

that would have to be taken to awful way. We all ran and put on get rid of a dreaded disease. He then went on to tell me that he had sisters working in a muni- tions plant.

"It is rather funny," he said, laughing. " bring bombs and planes over to kill my sisters, and they build

torpedoes to sink me. I don't want tó bomb them and they don't want to sink me, but we both in our own ways

have to go ahead with it."

went out on deck. As I reached LAME

deck. all hell broke loose.

The skeleton of Tamer-

much leg was right shorter than the left.

Every ship is armed with ma- chine-guns and anti-aircraft. We had a very large escort of des- troyers and corvettes which are lane the Great, which well armed with anti-aircraft. The first thing I saw were the was disinterred at Samar- bursts of shrapnel in the sky. kand, shows that the Then I saw her! A huge four- motored

It Candor.

was the first time outside of news reels I had ever seen a Nazi, I stood transfixed, just staring at her, as

still if I were

in a news reel. She was huge, filled the sky, and The convoy is a magnificent was swooping low over the con- thing. It seems

into the barrage. the journalists voy-right

guess I stopped thinking, just watched with my mouth open.

rain

Magnificent

Huge Geysers

After removing the three-ton marble slab on which the famous dark green jade cover used to rest, the excavators had to prise up five rough limestone slabs be- the well-preserved fore reaching ebony coffin. This was still cover- ed in places by blackened brocade with a beautiful design and inscriptions in gold and silver thread.

of to-day like to play up the subject of the perplexed skipper on a merchantman trying to keep up with the modern methods of the Royal Navy. I saw no per- plexed skippers. I saw extremely

Examination of the skeleton well run ships keeping their place Suddenly two huge geysers of continues, but there is no doubt in formation through snow, ice, water shot up and then loud ex is it Tamerlane's. The skull has

and а three day gule, plosions. She

bombing! was through air attack, submarine at Then two more huge geysers; she been damaged by water. Bealdes tack, and even dodging mines.. was getting close and then I saw his grandson, Ula Beg, the astrono~ "I mer the remains of two of Tamer-. It is a mystery to me; even she was headed right for us.

lane's sons have been exhumeđ. though I took part in it, how a turned white as a sheet of paper.

Tamerlane, whose proper name very large number of ships, can and with my usual calm.com- keep in formation all through a posure yelled bloody murder, was Timur of Timur-i-Lenk- long, dark night.

Kave a jump and slid twenty feet Lame Timut--was born in 1336 at Samarkand: He founded an empire. Black-out at seal A black-out on my belly into a corner and Kash, some 50 miles south of

waited.

stretching from Syria to India, and so black your very hand in

I didn't have long, sho was died at Atrar in 1405. front of your eye looks like the

The roar of the coming fast. centre of the ace of spades, yet comes the dawn and every motors increased, our guns start- ship is in position, steaming oned barking and our machine-guns In its zig-zag course to Bri-chattering and then her machine- guns, sprayed the deck. Then I saw. out of the corner of my eye. At the head of the convoy is the bombs falling -- big oneg ---- the commodore. He sails in one and the ship seemed to jump out of the regular ships of the con- of the water as four separate ex- voy, and leads us in our queerplosions rent the air. 1. was trail across the Atlantic One really too scared to move, but I mistake by him and the whole got up thinking we had been hit, convoy is put in danger. But but no everything seemed to they are men who have spent be all right....... ›

tain.

many years in the Admiralty I learned later that the last of with a high office. They have the four she dropped missed-us been called out of retirement and by very little. It is funny, the take, to their important jobs like impressions I got from that bat- a duck to water. The commodores to the continued scream of" the just don't make mistakes,

sirens, the deep booms

of the The convoy is well protected anti-aircraft and the long-chat- the whole trip. No wireless inter of machine-guns. The "yip- used, no smoke is made no xip of the destroyer whistles as unnecessary noise either My they cut through the water right admiration goes out to the men into the Hun's path to paste him who conduct those convoys, with a good dose of Pom-Porns. every detail is done so complete= | It was quite a fight while it last ly and so well. Convoys are éd, and it seemed to me, and escorted to well now that it is probably to Jerry too, that it practically suicide for a tin ash lasted for ages. She dropped to get within "hearing" distance, eight bombs and all eight were In fact I should hate to be in clean misses, probably due to the their place. One day one did terrillo barrage we put up. I como In for a try at us. Many think we hit her for she seemed dopth charges were let off at to drop after she went over us, least two miles from my ship. I:then picked herself up and lice a

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